Tutorial on Basic Android Setup

EE368/CS232 Digital Image Processing, Spring 2015

Windows Version
Introduction
In this tutorial, we will learn how to set up the Android software development environment and
how to implement image processing operations on an Android mobile device. Android is an
open-source platform developed by Google and the Open Handset Alliance on which interesting
and powerful new applications can be quickly developed and distributed to many mobile devices.
There is a large, growing community of Android developers and a vast selection of Android
devices, which includes smartphones, tablets, and TV setup boxes. Android also comes with an
extension library of useful functions, including functions for user interfaces, image/bitmap
manipulation, and camera control that we will frequently use in EE368/CS232. We look forward
to seeing your novel image processing algorithms and applications running on Android devices
as the quarter progresses.
The tutorial is split into two parts. In the first part, we will explain how to download and install
the Android software tools onto your computer. Then, in the second part, we will explain how to
develop image processing programs that can run on an Android mobile device.
Estimated time to complete this tutorial: 2 hours
Part I: Creating the Software Development Environment 1
We will use the Google Android SDK and the Eclipse IDE to design, implement, and debug
Android-compatible programs in this class.
Important: Starting from December 2014, the official IDE became Android Studio, and Eclipse
is not officially supported anymore. However, there is currently no official support for the NDK
(native development kit, necessary for using native code) yet, so we strongly encourage students
to use Eclipse for this class.
Downloading and Installing Java JDK
The Java JDK from SUN/Oracle is required for development.
1. Download the latest version of the JDK from this website:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html

2. Execute the downloaded installer.

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Parts of this tutorial borrow explanations from the official Android developers website (developer.android.com).

Downloading the Android SDK

1. Download the SDK Tools from this website:
http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html#Other

2. Unzip the downloaded file to a convenient location on your hard disk, for example:
C:\\Android\\android-sdk-windows

Downloading and installing Eclipse with the ADT plugin

1. Download the latest Eclipse version for your system at this link:
https://www.eclipse.org/downloads/packages/eclipse-ide-java-developers/lunasr2

2. Unzip the downloaded file to a convenient location on your hard disk, for example:
C:\\Android\\eclipse

3. Open the Eclipse application, situated in that directory.

4. When asked to choose a default workspace, pick a folder that is easy to remember and
access, for example:
C:\\Android\\workspace

5. Verify that Eclipse starts properly and an IDE window like in Figure 1 is shown. You can
display the primary development console by choosing Window > Show View > Console,
so that a console like in Figure 2 appears.

Figure 1. Initial start-up screen of the Eclipse IDE.

Figure 2. Development console within the Eclipse IDE.

6. To install the ADT plugin, necessary to develop Android applications, click Help >
Install New Software.
7. In the new window, enter the following URL in the top text box:
https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/

8. In the dialog below, select the checkbox for Developer Tools and click Next. Accept all
license agreements. Click Finish.
9. Restart Eclipse after all the packages have been downloaded and installed.
Updating the Android SDK
1. In Eclipse, select Window > Preferences, and open the Android tab. Enter the SDK
location. In the example given above, it would be:
C:\\Android\\android-sdk-windows

2. In Eclipse, select Window > Android SDK Manager. A window like that in Figure 3
should pop up.

Figure 3. Android SDK Manager in Eclipse.

1. In this new window, check the boxes of the packages you want to install or update. It is
necessary to install/update the following packages:
Tools > Android SDK Tools
Tools > Android SDK Platform-tools
Tools > Android SDK Build-tools
Android 5.1 (API 22) > SDK Platform
Extras > Android Support Repository
Extras > Android Support Library

Finally, if you plan to use the emulator (not necessary if you have already a device) you
need to download a system image, for example
Android 5.1 (API 22) > ARM EABI v7a System Image

2. Click Install <number> packages, choose Accept License for all items listed, and
click Install. The selected packages will now be downloaded and copied to your
Android SDK installation folder. You can monitor the download/installation progress at
the bottom of the Android SDK Manager window.
3. Add the location of the tools and platform-tools subfolders for the Android SDK to
your system PATH. For help on editing the PATH, please follow the tips here:
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000549.htm

Linking Your Phone to Your Computer

1. Connect your phone to your computer via USB. Turn on your phone.
2. Go to the home screen.
3. Select Settings > Applications > Development and then enable USB debugging.

4. On Windows, you will need to install the appropriate USB driver. Read this page for
more information:
http://developer.android.com/tools/extras/oem-usb.html

Note: For the Motorola Droid, you can also download the latest USB driver from:
http://www.motorola.com/Support/US-EN/SupportHomepage/Software_and_Drivers/USB-and-PC-Charging-Drivers

Note: You may need to restart your computer after installing the USB driver in order for
the phone to show up in Eclipse.

Part II: Developing Image Processing Programs for Android

Now that the Google Android SDK, the Java Runtime, and the Eclipse IDE are all set up on your
computer, we are ready to start writing image processing programs that can run an Androidcompatible mobile device.
Hello World Example
First, we will build a simple Android program in Eclipse. This simple example will also help you
to become familiar with how to create an Android project, how to (auto) compile source code,
and how to run the generated executable on the mobile device. Please follow the instructions on
this page to develop the My First App program. (The tutorial was recently replaced by the
corresponding Android Studio tutorial, so we give you a link to an outdated snapshot of that
page)
http://goo.gl/KSp3Oe

In the external My First App tutorial, they only run the My First App program in an
emulator. Additionally, we will now also run the program on the actual Android phone. Make
sure your phone is properly linked to your computer.
1. In Eclipse, select the project MyFirstApp in the Project Explorer. Then, select Project >
Properties > Android and select the highest Android version if it is not already selected.
Thanks to backwards compatibility and support libraries, it does not matter if your device
does not support this particular version.
2. Known issue: If you chose as minimum required SDK an API < 14, the additional
support library appcompat_v7 will be created. A known bug in Eclipse may show an
error on that library, preventing you to build your project. To solve the problem, select
the appcompat_v7 library in the Project Explorer and press F5 (or File > Refresh) to
refresh it. You can now clean it and rebuild it by choosing Project > Clean and then
Project > Build project. The error should be gone.
3. Select the project MyFirstApp again, then Run > Run Configurations > Android
Application > MyFirstApp > Target. Choose Always prompt to pick device.
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4. Select Run, and in the Device Chooser dialog, select your Android phone. The My First
App program will be sent to and automatically started on your phone, and you should
see the screen similar to Figure 4 on your phone.

Figure 4. My First App program running on an Android phone.

EE368 Viewfinder Example
Now, having grasped the fundamentals of building and running an Android application, we will
create a more complicated project involving the onboard camera and real-time image processing.
1. Create a new Android project with the following parameters.
Application name: Viewfinder EE368
Project name: ViewfinderEE368
Package name: com.example.viewfinderee368
Minimum Required SDK: API 8: Android 2.2 (Froyo)
Target SDK: API 8: Android 2.2 (Froyo)
Compile With: API 22: Android 5.1
Theme: None
Create Activity: Blank Activity
2. Copy the text in the following document into AndroidManifest.xml. Make sure the name
of the activity specified in the file matches the name of the activity generated when you
created the project, e.g. MainActivity. This defines the main activities and permissions
for this program.
http://ee368.stanford.edu/Android/ViewfinderEE368/AndroidManifest.xml.txt

3. Copy the text in the following document into src : com.example.viewfinderee368 :

MainActivity.java. This defines the classes in this program.
http://ee368.stanford.edu/Android/ViewfinderEE368/MainActivity.java

4. Check to make sure everything is copied correctly into the project. If there are
compilation errors, a red X will appear in the Package Explorer. If you have followed all
the previous steps correctly and still get errors, it may be necessary to clean your
workspace: Project > Clean > Clean all projects and to rebuild it.
5. Select Run and in the Device Chooser dialog, select your phone. You should see
something like Figure 5 on your phone. Point the camera at different objects around you
to see how the mean, standard deviation, and histogram of each color channel changes
dynamically. You are augmenting the viewfinder in real time!

Figure 5. Viewfinder EE368 program running on an Android phone.

6. You may notice that there are many deprecation warnings in the code. This is due to the
fact that we compiled our project using Android 5.1, in which most Camera functions are
deprecated. One workaround is to suppress the warnings manually. Another possibility is
to build the project using another version of the SDK (you can get it on the SDK
manager), but this may not work for older APIs typically API 13 since it may not be
possible to build the compatibility library with the latest version of the SDK tools.
Real-time Phone Debugging in Eclipse
It is actually possible to view real-time messages from the phone in Eclipse, which can be very
helpful for debugging and code development.
1. Select Window > Open Perspective > DDMS.
2. A new tab entitled DDMS should appear next to the default Java tab. Click on the
DDMS tab.
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3. Select your Android device from the list of devices.

4. Select Window> Show View > LogCat. The LogCat view shows a sequential list of realtime messages from the phone. In particular, error messages in red can be very useful
when trying to debug a problem.
Taking a Screenshot of the Phone
At some point, it may be useful to take a screenshot of the phone, e.g., to use as a figure in your
project report.
1. Go to the DDMS perspective in Eclipse.
2. Select your Android device, as shown in Figure 6.
3. Click the camera icon (circled in red in Figure 6), and a panel like Figure 7 should pop
up.
4. Finally, when you have the desired screen shown, click Save or Copy to extract the
screen shot.

Figure 6. Dalvik Debug Monitor panel.

Figure 7. Device screen capture panel.